Worcester Sharks make a point vs. Bears

Thursday

Jan 17, 2013 at 6:00 AM

Some of the things your grandmother told you are useless, like “slow and steady wins the race.” Tell that to a Kenyan. However, she knew what she was talking about when she said, “Half a loaf is better than none.”

By Bill Ballou TELEGRAM & GAZETTE STAFF

Some of the things your grandmother told you are useless, like “slow and steady wins the race.” Tell that to a Kenyan.

However, she knew what she was talking about when she said, “Half a loaf is better than none.”

The Sharks got a very tasty half a loaf on Wednesday night in a 3-2 shootout loss to the Hershey Bears at the DCU Center. Considering how depleted Worcester's roster has become in the last week, and especially considering that the Bears had a 2-1 lead with 12 seconds left in the third period, this was a very acceptable result for the Sharks.

“You've got to be happy to get one point when you're behind with 12 seconds to go,” coach Roy Sommer said. “With the way things have been going with our roster, this is how we're gonna have to get our points. It's not going to be easy.”

The tying goal belonged to rookie Daniil Tarasov and was his first in the AHL. He fired home a rebound of a shot from the point by Denny Urban. The other assist went to Mikael Tam, who picked up his first AHL point.

It was an especially good night for Urban, who had some sort of yet-to-be-named hat trick along the lines of the Gordie Howe type. Urban had a goal, an assist, and a shootout goal.

Note to the folks in San Jose: There's a lot going on with the season starting up there, but it's probably a good idea to upgrade Urban from his tryout to a standard contract.

Urban almost had the winner in overtime, too. With time running out, he moved into the slot and was all alone, ready to accept a pass, but couldn't make a play.

“Just as it was getting to me,” Urban said of the puck, “it sort of skidded and bounced over my stick. But we're still pretty happy to get a point out of it, coming back like we did.”

In the shootout, Garrett Mitchell and Ryan Potulny scored for the Bears. Urban had Worcester's only success. The Sharks nearly tied it when Patrick Rissmiller faked Hershey goalie Philipp Grubauer to the ice and had time and a huge amount of net, but he fanned on the shot.

Tarasov's goal was the first one this season for Worcester with its goalie yanked. The last one was almost a year ago, and it also came against Hershey. Tim Kennedy got it there on Feb. 11, 2012, to make it 2-2.

Urban's shootout goal was the first by a Sharks defenseman in more than three years. Danny Groulx had one against Portland on Nov. 6, 2009.

Both goalies played well, Grubauer and Al Stalock. Stalock got credit for a tie, improving his all-time record against Hershey to 4-1-1. The shootout loss snapped Worcester's six-game winning streak versus the Bears, but the Sharks are an impressive 10-3-2 all-time against one of the AHL's best teams.

Boyd Kane and T.J. Syner had the Hershey goals. Kane scored on a power play at 7:41 of the first period, putting a short one into a mostly open net after tic-tac-toe passing just eight seconds after Michael Wilson went off for interference.

Urban drilled a 30-foot slap shot in off the far post just 15 seconds into the second period, but the Bears got it back pretty quickly. Syner had been in the box for holding and just as he came out, he poked the puck away from Rissmiller and skated in alone on Stalock.

Another poke sent it through Stalock's legs to make it 2-1.

Otherwise, Stalock was excellent, stopping a Hershey breakaway midway through the period to keep it 2-1. It seemed as though that would be the way it ended, but Urban and Tarasov came through at the end.